1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dolls, characters or figures and more particularly to dolls, characters or figures with articulated legs that simulate walking and the like.
2. Background Art
Dolls with motor driven movable limbs are old in the art as are dolls having articulated legs that in combination with a supporting accessory simulate walking of the doll. Prior art examples of dolls supported by a wheeled accessory for ,simulated walking are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,684,287 issued Sept. 11, 1928 to Paluck; 3,940,879 issued Mar. 2, 1976 to Glass et al. and 4,386,479 issued June 7, 1983 to Terzian et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,150 issued Jan. 26, 1982 to Terzian discloses a doll capable of raising itself from a generally prone position with the head of the doll being movable between two positions to determine the shut off time of a drive mechanism and hence, whether the doll will raise itself to either a sitting or a standing position. A controlled dual-action doll that will either jump up and down or shake her head "No", depending on the direction of rotation of a motor in response to selective actuation of different switches is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,361 issued Mar. 9, 1971 to Bart et al. Angularly displaced cams drive the arms of a swimming figure in an alternating "Australian crawl" motion in the doll disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,292 issued Sept. 26, 1972 to Di Leva. However, there remains a need for a character that will selectively simulate walking by alternate, out of phase, movement of its legs or rocking back and forth by simultaneous, in phase, movement of its legs.